The National RD

1
The National RDE Framework The National
Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary
Industries, and an RDC perspective

• Dr Michael Robinson
• Land Water Australia,
• Chair CCRSPI, Member PISC RD Subcommittee

2

• The outcome
• sustainable and profitable primary industries
  national RDE strategies addressing the
  challenges
• ? We need to be smarter! ?

3
Motivating change

• Food security
• Water security/ availability
• Climate change
• Population growth
• Urbanisation
• Declining resource quality

• Global financial crisis
• Dwindling research dollar
• Declining research resources and capacity
• Institutional complexity
• Institutional uncertainty

4
Climate change

• Australian agricultural and resource industries
  are likely to be affected profoundly by climate
  change and the global response to it. They are
  likely to be affected profoundly whether or not
  there is an effective global mitigation effort,
  and whatever the nature of Australias
  contribution to that effort.
• Prof Ross Garnaut 2009
• CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL
  AND RESOURCE INDUSTRIES
• Paper presented at the Australian Agricultural
  and Resource Economics Society, 53rd Annual
  Conference, 11th February 2009, Cairns, Australia.

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Climate changes unique RDE challenge

• The impacts do not respect jurisdictional,
  biophysical, sectoral or temporal boundaries.
• Mitigation and adaptation needs to be based on
  real evidence
• national R, regional D, local E, (and sector
  specific)
• Climate change is additional to all our current
  RDE activities

6
CCRSPI phase 1

• Opportunities for national cross-sectoral
  collaboration and coordination?
• YES!
• First database
• Emissions Adaptation Reports

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Themes for national collaboration

• Future climates
• Projected climate change, seasonal forecasting
• Managing emissions
• NO3, CH4, C policy, ETS, LCA, accounting
• Preparing industries - Adaptation
• eCO2, breeding, tools, building resilience
• Accessing information
• nationally consistent, good quality regional and
  industry specific myth-busting
• Facilitating change
• Vulnerability assessments, drought/EC policy,
  structural adjustment, building resilience,
  capacity building
• Linking decision makers
• Strong proactive dialogue between research,
  industry and policy

8
CCRSPI Phase 2

• Build the long-term coordination structure
• Urgent and important research
• Communicate
• Coordinate
• Theme based activity
• Australias Farming Future Climate Change
  Research program
• Database of RDE activity

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CCRSPI structure
Primary Industry Ministerial Council (PIMC)
Primary Industry Standing Committee (PISC)
Council of Rural Research and Development
Corporation Chairs CRRDCC
Australian Council of Agricultural Deans
CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship
PISC RD Sub Committee (SC)
CCRSPI Network
RDCs States DAFF
CSIRO
CCRSPI Steering Committee
CCRSPI Stakeholder Committee
CCRSPI Secretariat
Partners lead, participate, or link with
CCRSPI Research themes
Program initiatives
9
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CCRSPI operating principles

• Coordination and communication, not control
• CCRSPI framework is flexible to different partner
  needs / processes
• Partners pursue their own research interests as
  desired
• Partners lead, participate or link on
  agreed research themes
• CCRSPI can lead on cross cutting research needs
  and themes
• Unincorporated partnership, lean, broad tent
• Secretariat has honest broker role represents
  all partners
• Industry represented in Stakeholder Committee and
  Observers
• Lean administrative Secretariat - focus on
  value to partners
• Must not duplicate any existing or planned
  investments
• Governance - Operates by consensus and
  transparency
• Regular reporting to CCRSPI Steering Committee,
  PIMC/PISC, CRRDCC
• Shared IP and outputs default to public domain

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Implement (2009-14)

• Partner funded and directed, lean UJV
• Functions
• Provide and facilitate national RDE coordination,
  built from themes up.
• Be a strategic communication hub.
• Invest in cross-sectoral research activity.
• National database of research activity.
• Represent primary industries climate change RDE.
• Monitor and evaluate RDE activity and
  coordination.
• Provide national leadership on climate change RDE
  for primary industries.
• Support the implementation of the Primary
  Industries Climate Change Adaptation Research
  Network.

12
CCRSPI Cross-sectoral lessons

• Coordination not control
• Value add
• Flexible
• Implement according to need
• Leadership essential

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NRDEF and the RDC perspective

• Recognise the drivers
• Burning platform, differences
• Value add for RDE system
• Major efficiencies
• Reduced duplication
• Industry input and ownership
• National plans, shared vision, implemented!
• Appropriate collaboration (aligned objectives
  recognise costs)
• 2 way communication, national R, regional D,
  local E

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The risks of not doing

• Continued decision making in sector, regional and
  jurisdictional silos, all under significant
  pressures
• Therefore national strategies must be
• Planned
• Inclusive
• Transparent
• National!

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Success

• Truly national, collaborative, coordinated,
  inclusive, working RDE strategies across primary
  industries
• Minimised duplication, breaking down
  jurisdictional, biophysical and temporal
  boundaries
• Maximum knowledge sharing
• Balance between industry pull and science push
  RDE
• Maintain and grow investment (business case)

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• Efficient, effective, collaborativeand
  coordinated RDE helping achieve sustainable and
  profitable primary industries